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About Me

Life is an adventure to be lived, not read about! I am an addicted arctophile (lover of bears!), quilter, stitcher & craft designer. I have been married to my best friend Scott (AKA My Beloved Geek Boy!) for 25 years ... & still like him! We live in our 'Dream House' on an acre in a semi-rural area that provides inspiration for my craft pattern designing; with an ever-growing population of bears, cloth dolls, quilts & stitchery projects. Grab a cuppa, get comfy & enjoy your visit! :0)

SSCS 2015

OPAM 2016

OPAM 2015

OPAM 2014

Stitch-A-Long Challenge

Lynette Anderson's Noah's Ark BOM

OPAM 09

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Friday, 26 May 2017

SHEESH! Here I am, just catching up on what happened LAST weekend & THIS weekend is breathing down my neck! Mind you, the weekend is always welcome, I just find myself wondering what the heck happened to the week in between! :0)

So ... Last weekend was the annual Hampton Food & Art Festival. Can I say, for a little passing-through, blink-and-you'll-miss-it spot on the map, Hampton really knows how to put on a show! If you're in the area next year, I'd recommend a visit ... Especially if you're a bit of a fan of fresh, locally owned/grown/produced food & drink. Did I mention there are quite a few wineries in this region?! :0)

Having been to the festival a couple of times now, we knew to wear our walking shoes cos parking is a bit of an issue ... But that gave us a good excuse to sample more yummy foodie treats ... We'd just walk off the calories getting back to the car ... As long as we walked back & forth several times! Tee! Hee! Hee!

After a quick lap around to scope out tasty treats, we popped into the art marquee. One of the guys I work with had entered a piece that I wanted to see in person ... & was chuffed to find he'd received a highly commended! :0)

Then it was time to sample some food. My Beloved Geek Boy was fighting a nasty head cold so wasn't his usual cheerful self & plopped himself in a relatively quiet spot to gobble his lunch & listen to the relaxing jazz music being played live while I contemplated further ...

Oops! He'd gobbled all of the Greek deep fried fetta balls before I got back. Apparently they were pretty tasty. :0) And after being thoroughly entertained by the interplay between family members on the Transylvanian food stand, I enjoyed ...

Grilled Transylvanian stuffed bread. It was a bit like naan bread stuffed with cheese, bacon, mushrooms & spinach then grilled on a barbecue plate. YUMMO!! Then of course, we needed a sweetie treatie. :0)

MMMMMMMMM ... Home made ice cream with fresh raspberry coulee. DEEEEEELICIOUS!! And GB had ...

... Fresh blueberry sauce. Fruit & dairy products are good for you, right?!?! Tee! Hee! Hee! By that stage GB's cold had him ready to head home, so we retraced our steps to stock up on tasty treats for our Sunday supper & toodled back to the car ... Managing to burn the calories in the first mouthful of ice cream we'd taken! :0P And later with our feet up in front of the tele we enjoyed ...

As I said, the rest of the week has gone by in a blur, with not much sewing being done as the month creeps toward its close ... Which is why OPAMers should be starting to update their sidebar lists & getting ready to email their month's tally to me or my GORGEOUS Partner-In-Crime Sweet Peg. Only a few days left until winter begins ... DARN IT!! & the weather forecasters are cheerfully telling us winter temperatures will kick in immediately! SIGH! This hot weather chick is ready to fly north for the winter!!

I hope you've had a great week & that you have some fun stuff planned for the weekend. I think grown up chores & playing catch up are on my agenda. Good thing tonight's Friday Night Sit N Stitch is adding a bright spot. :0) Til next time ...

Saturday, 20 May 2017

Well ... It sure is a weekend of socialising for me this week. Yesterday a blogging buddies catchup & today a 'recycled 21st' party. :0)

One of our Friday Night gals, Julie, said she got to a particular age (she didn't say & we didn't ask!) & then started counting backwards. Well, this week she was 21 ... AGAIN! :0) And of course that called for a party ... Or at least a lunch gathering.

Here's the birthday girl, complete with inflatable party crown. :0) And of course there was cake ...

... And candles. Action shot of Julie's candle-blowing skills. :0) And there were gifties ...

I think this is the shortest amount of time I've ever taken to design & make a new project! I started playing with sketches last night at about 7pm & finished stitching the binding down as my lift was pulling into the driveway this morning at 11:30am! Nothing like a tight deadline to motivate one! :0)

Here's a closer look at the little hanging. I wanted to incorporate a key, since it was a "21st" giftie, but wanted it to have a bit more meaning, so incorporated the word "Friends" into the shank of the key & wrote the explanation on the back ...

"Friends are the key to a happy life."

Thankfully, Julie loved it. :0) And Julie was giving out gifties as well ...

Cute giftie bags that Julie & her daughter made & inside was some yummy chocolates, a fat 1/4 & a cute light-flashy-hangy-thingy ... That's the technical name, of course! :0P You've probably guessed that I forgot to take a photo of the goodies. :0)

Big thanks to Julie for sharing your 'recycled 21st' with us ... And may there be many more birthdays so you can finish counting down, then count back up to 21 again. :0)

I'd like to say that tomorrow will be a quiet stay-at-home day to balance out the last two days of socialising ... But it won't be! :0) I'll check in with more pics ... Unless I end up all socialised-out. Tee! Hee! Hee!

Tuesday, 16 May 2017

Hello to you all out there in blogland. I hope you're all well and enjoying your week so far. Life here at the Meares' Madhouse is still a wee bit unsettled. Grandma is improving - thank you all for your lovely messages wishing Grandma well and checking up on us ... your friendship and concern is so VERY much appreciated! :0) We made another quick trip up to Bundy again on the weekend to see Grandma and bring Mum home. There's definitely some progress happening with Grandma, but she's got a bit of a ways to go before she's back to her fighting-fit self. Good thing she's a "tough old bird" in her own words. :0)

In amongst the trips to Bundy and sqishing our grown up chores into shorter amounts of time, there hasn't been a lot of time for sewing, but I did manage to have some quality time with my trusty Husky last Friday to work on a new quilt design. In fact, I've made TWO versions of it, as one will be a giftie for nephew number three and the second version for the pattern sample ... as soon as I write some instructions ... GROAN!!!

The first version has been off to my amazing Quilting Fairy the Fabulous Fiona and I'm part way through sewing down the binding. Version two is currently visiting Fiona's quilting cave ... can't wait to get it back! Fiona always does such an AMAZING job of bringing my quilts to life!! :0) OK ... so what have I been working on? Here's a peek ...

My what big teeth you have, my dear! :0) Raw edge applique is so much fun to play with. And the finished top for the pattern sample ...

Ta Da! "Dinosaurs Go RAAAH!" This quilt was inspired by my brother's three boys and their love of dinosaurs. I remember having a phone conversation with my brother and he was telling me about a recent visit to the museum ... he said the boys liked the dinosaurs best. Suddenly, in the background there came a little (or not so little!) voice saying, "RAAH!!" My brother's response was, "Yes, dinosaurs go 'RAAAH'!" And so the quilt name. :0) Stay tuned on when the pattern is available ... after the instructions are written ... GROAN! :0)

No other sewing has happened, but I'm pretty happy with what I've managed to acheive ... considering. ;0) I hope your weekend was productive, too, and that your week is off to a great start. I'm off to try to catch up on some sleep ... I've got another busy weekend coming up ... I promise to report back. :0) Til next time ...

Sunday, 7 May 2017

Just popping in for a quick visit before I keep a long overdue, much needed date with my pillow.

We've had a "week to forget" here at the Meares' Madhouse. It started with a horrible phone call to say my lovely Grandma was not doing well and any family who were able, were encouraged by her Dr to gather. So random items were thrown in an overnight bag and we headed for Bundaberg. It was probably the longest trip ever!

THANKFULLY ... when we arrived, Grandma had rallied but it has been a week of ups and downs as she improved, slid backwards, seemed to have developed severe dementia, was finally diagnosed with a raging urinary infection that was causing a lot of the problems. The good news is, she seems to be mostly moving forward in her recovery now, but she sure has given us some scares.

Throw in several short weeks and we're feeling a bit scrambled around here. Needless to say ... not much sewing has happened this week. Hopefully this coming week will be a wee bit calmer all round and more condusive to creativity. To everyone who has commented on blog posts recently or emailed OPAM finishes through to me ... I have received them ... thank you! :0) I just haven't had much time at home to reply. I'm hoping I'll get to play catch up, but hope you'll forgive me if I don't.

Thank you to all of you for your well-wishes for Grandma ... I'm sure the prayers on her behalf and having family around her helped pull her through. And thank you for your care and concern for me too ... I've made such lovely, caring friends through blogging. :0)

Right ... off to keep that pillow date. I promise to share some sewing photos soon. Enjoy your week and make sure you take the time to tell your loved ones how much you love them. Til next time ...